


The Perfect Present

by Oyasumi



Category: Hakuouki
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-28
Updated: 2017-09-28
Packaged: 2019-01-06 15:50:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12213978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oyasumi/pseuds/Oyasumi
Summary: It's Kondou's birthday, and Okita needs to find the perfect gift for the perfect man.





	The Perfect Present

**Author's Note:**

> Konkita Week Day 3: Gift

It was Kondou’s birthday, and Okita was having trouble thinking up something to get him. Oh sure, he could have gotten him something small and ordinary, but Okita wanted his present this year to be something special, something that would really mean something to Kondou.

In the past, Okita had given him handcrafted items - a poor kid working as a servant in a dojo didn’t have much in the way of spending money.  He made him little paper cranes and cut outs of dolls with swords and, when he was a little older, wood carvings. At first Okita was proud of the presents he’d made - Kondou praised them so highly and put them up to decorate his room. Okita felt warm inside whenever he happened to see them hanging on his bedroom walls.

But then one year, Hijikata had given Kondou a shitty haiku for his birthday and Kondou had heaped the same praise on him.  That was when Okita realized that Kondou had just been humoring him all these years so that his feelings wouldn’t be hurt - it didn’t seem possible that Hijikata’s shitty haikus could be praised on the same level as Okita’s presents...unless Okita’s presents were equally shitty.

That wouldn’t do. Kondou had done so much for Okita. If he could, he would offer Kondou anything in the world that he wanted, but the sad truth was that he was restricted. There wasn’t much Okita could do for him in return - he wasn’t very talented at anything besides wielding a sword and fighting for his sake. So getting him a nice birthday present would be the least he could do. It was really, really important that it was perfect.

* * *

Of course, coming up with the perfect gift wasn’t a simple task at all. At first, Okita tried the direct approach:

“Say Kondou-san, is there anything you’ve been wanting lately?”  Okita asked while they were eating dinner one day. It was a rare occasion where it was just the two of them. Kondou had been out on business and Okita had gone with him. When they came back they discovered everyone else had already eaten.

“Hmm, you mean wanting to eat? I’ve been craving a good home cooked meal lately, but nothing in particular.” Kondou laughed. “The food here is good enough though.”

“No no, I mean in general! Like as a gift. Your birthday is coming up you know.” Okita reminded him.

“As a gift huh? Hmm...” Kondou looked deep in thought for a minute, tapping his chopsticks absently against his bowl of rice. “I don’t know. I usually like whatever you give me.”

“Aw come on now, there must be something?” Okita kept pushing.

Kondou just shook his head. “I’m serious. There’s nothing I can think of, but I’ve always really liked your gifts. One of my favorite gifts was the drawing you made of me and you. “ He broke out in a fond smile at the memory. “You must have been around 10 at the time. It was nice.. I think I still have it somewhere.”

Okita thought back on it and blushed when he remembered the embarrassing little scribble he drew. “You don’t have to try and make me feel good about something like that.  Anyway, I was a kid at the time! I want to get you a real gift this year.”

Kondou smiled. “I’m sure you’ll get me something nice. You don’t even have to get me anything though.” With that, he moved onto another topic.

 

* * *

So, the direct approach didn’t work. In hindsight, Okita should have seen it coming.

Even though he considered himself one of the people who knew Kondou best, he still wasn’t the best when it came to the whole gift thing. So he decided to ask around for help.

“Hm, a gift?” Heisuke looked at Nagakura, who seemed to be thinking as well.

“I dunno, I think the best gift nice big meal and some booze.” Nagakura chimed in. “Nothing better than that!” Heisuke nodded in agreement.

Later, he asked Saito. “If you’re looking for a present, I would suggest a new sword.”  Okita wasn’t at all surprised by his answer.

Okita couldn’t bring himself to ask Hijikata, so he skipped him and asked Harada. “People don’t like getting practical gifts, so make sure it’s something that will make the person you’re giving it to feel spoiled.”

The gift ideas he had gotten throughout the day were decent, but they weren’t great. Saito had the best idea, but Kondou already had swords he was attached to, so he probably didn't need a new one at the moment.  

Feeling a bit dejected, he went to town to see if window shopping would give him any ideas. Maybe he just wouldn’t know the right gift until he saw it with his own eyes. There was only one day left until Kondou’s birthday.

The streets of Kyoto were bustling during the day, and not much quieter in the evenings. Okita had gone out without wearing his uniform, so people weren’t giving him the same wide berth they usually did, and even the shopkeepers seemed to be friendlier. Some even called out to him as he passed to come examine their items. Unfortunately, most of the stuff they had for sale was crap. Well, maybe crap was too harsh. Ordinarily it would be fine, but it wasnt good enough for Kondou's birthday.

‘Ahhh, why couldn’t you just tell me what to get you? There’s so much to look through, but nothing worth your time.’ Okita lamented to himself.

He had just started heading back to headquarters, when a little store caught his eye. They had all sorts of scrolls and books. Kondou was into that sort of thing - whenever Okita tried to read, he found his mind wandering to other things.  Kondou loved to read though, so Okita went to poke around inside.

The place was kind of dusty.  It didn’t seem like it was visited all that often. It was unusual to see this many books in one place - scrolls were still more popular. Okita actually liked books slightly better if he had to read - it wouldn’t roll away from you, and you could save your place more easily.

There were so many books on the shelves that Okita didn’t know where to start looking. There were boring political books, boring books on strategy, and boring books on the history of the country. Picking out a book wasn’t going to be easy, though knowing Kondou he would love most of the books he had seen so far.  How were you supposed to just come into a store and pick something out?

“Are you looking for something in particular?” The shopkeeper asked him.

“I’m trying to find a gift for someone important to me. He likes to read. Got any recommendations?” A shopkeeper would know what was good, right?

“Yes, I have some really nice books that would be perfect to present to someone.” The shopkeeper went into the back room and when he came back, he had some that were more eye catching books than the drab black and brown ones on the shelves. Okita came closer to examine them.  They had beautiful covers with vibrant colors like red and blue.  He didn’t know anything about what was actually in the books, but based on appearance alone, they would make an impressive gift.  But would Kondou actually like them? That was the important part.  

His eyes skimmed over the book covers until a metallic glint caught his eye - a black book with an intricate gold pattern on the cover. The title was “Romance of the Three Kingdoms.” Okita’s eyes widened. That was one of Kondou’s absolute favorites!

“I’ll take this one!” Okita picked it up. There was no doubt in his mind that this had to be the one.

 

* * *

Okita was quite pleased with himself. For once he finally, finally got something he knew Kondou would just adore. He could hardly wait to give it to him and see his face light up. This book was something that meant a lot to Kondou - it was what he had based his ideals off of, after all.  Maybe he would even get Kondou to smile that special smile for him - the one that always seemed reserved only for Hijikata. Okita had yet to make him smile like that.

He had decided to give the gift to Kondou first thing in the morning. He wouldn’t be able to wait longer than that, the anticipation was killing him. Plus, he wanted to be the first one to tell him happy birthday and give him a gift. Okita passed back and forth in front of his door, waiting eagerly for the moment it would open.

“Oh, Souji!” Kondou sounded a little startled as the door slid open, but he quickly smiled. “You’re up early.  Did you need something?”

Okita had practiced what he was going to say the night before when he handed him the gift. Something like ‘I saw this and thought of you.’ But somehow he managed to forget the line and panicked, practically shoving the package into Kondou’s hands. “H-happy birthday Kondou-san!”

“You remembered! To be honest, I didn’t remember it was my own birthday. Then again, I just woke up.” He laughed, excitedly looking at his gift. “Thank you. But you didn’t have to get me anything” He gestured for Okita to follow him outside and sat down so he could properly open his gift.  

Okita sat down next to him, tense with excitement as he watched Kondou tear into the plain brown paper like a little kid. He was going at it with such zeal that Okita was worried that he’d tear the book to pieces too, but luckily the book made it out intact. Kondou held it up to get a better look, the gold pattern glittering in the sun.  His eyes widened as he realized what he held in his hand.

“Souji! Do you know what this is??” Kondou asked him, and Okita wanted to say ‘of course I know, how could I not know something so important to you?’ but he just nodded instead.

“This is an amazing gift!  And to think, just the other day you were acting like you didn’t know what to get me.” Kondou laughed and pulled him into a hug. “You knew all along, didn’t you?”

“Y-yeah.” Okita lied, hugging him back.  It was so warm - when he was younger, Kondou used to hug him all the time, but they had become more rare now that he was older. He was glad that the stars had aligned and he had gotten something meaningful for Kondou.

“Thank you very much. Ahh, I can’t wait to start reading it.  This one is such a nice copy!” Kondou pulled away to look at his present again, a smile plastered on his face.

 

* * *

Later that day, the gang had all gathered outside to help Kondou celebrate his birthday. Actually, almost everyone was using it as a day to slack off instead of doing any work. Saito gave Kondou a present, a decorative sword, then insisted on leaving to patrol.  Nagakura, Heisuke and Harada hadn’t wasted any time getting drunk, and Nagakura ended up singing for Kondou while the other two cheered him on. The grand finale was his speciality - breaking chopsticks with his ass.

Okita was chatting with Kondou about a new technique he was working on, when Hijikata approached them.

“Happy birthday, Kondou.” Hijikata smiled at him.

“Thank you, Toshi. Another year older. We’re not getting any younger, huh?” Kondou replied.

Okita was feeling a little grumpy over being interrupted, so he spoke up, “Where have you been? I almost thought you had disappeared to Shimbara for the day.”

“Shut up. I had special ordered a gift for Kondou and it actually didn’t show up until this morning, so I went to go get it.” Hijikata pulled a package from his bag, wrapped in dark colored paper. He handed it over to Kondou.

Okita looked over Kondou’s shoulder while he unwrapped it. He couldn’t help but wonder what Hijikata got him this year. To his horror, he saw a book. A book with a very familiar title.

‘No no no… you have to be kidding me!’

“Wow, I don’t know what to say!” Kondou lifted the book to look at it. Sure enough, the title said “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” on it. Okita was certain he must be having a nightmare. This couldn’t be happening.

“It’s one of the first copies to be transcribed into a book.” Hijikata explained to him.  Unlike Okita’s copy, the book Hijikata had presented him had a brown cover and was undoubtedly older, but almost perfectly preserved.  

“I can’t believe this,” Okita yelled. Hijikata stared at him, confused. Kondou seemed to sense a fight was about to break out if he didn’t do something, fast, so he rose to his feet (gracefully bringing Okita up with him) and pulled them both into a hug before Okita could say more.

“I'm so happy to have two wonderful people in my life!” Kondou squeezed them both tightly. Okita glared at Hijikata over Kondou’s shoulder, while Hijikata shook his head, not knowing what had just happened.

‘Just wait until next year, Hijikata. You’re not going to know what hit you when I get Kondou-san the best gift.’


End file.
